**** DARK TOWER SPOILERS ***

Were the Bluth Banana bars the show's reference to low-carb/Atkins stuff?

Shock and Awww is my favorite episode
Even though I realize that objectively, it's probably not in the top 10 all time great episodes this show produced.

Turn up your volume to hear "The Legs" muffled outrage at Michael's reveal that GOB has a girlfriend.

Michael Bluth is the ultimate statement of nature vs. nuture. Even though he actively knows he should and tries to be a good person, he can't resist being a shithead most of the time.

What I love about that Freedom Sign Guy is that not only is it a great visual gag/indicator, but that he's the reason (albeit in a roundabout way) that this whole family has wound up living together. Even the throwaways have plot/story/character resonance.

You're totally right in that the jokes work because they come from a subconscious, as opposed to closeted, place.

Whoops… thought I lost my comment the first time around…

Sympathy for the Devil
Great writeup, but I'm surprised to see the references to "Sympathy for the Devil" tossed aside, because not only prove Ralph's guilt in the fire, but also put Tony in the right for doing what he did (or at least, making it an acceptable move in the eyes of the viewer). Ralph approaches Justin's…

"I did not… but so what?"
I think that turn is all the proof you need that Ralphie did in fact set the fire. On the commentary track for this episode, the writers play coy, but I don't buy it. Just because something isn't confirmed doesn't mean it didn't happen.

Well, it's the live version, and was the same one used in "The Departed."

Paradigms of Human Memory was a parody of a clip show episode. It was insanely well-done, but it was still was an episode about parodying a television staple, whereas "Critical Film Studies" or "Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking" are stories built on the characters who share a love and knowledge of pop culture and…

On the whole, I'd take a slice of life episode over a parody episode. I haven't rewatched the whole season, but I feel like the episode I enjoyed the most was "Custody Law and Eastern European Diplomacy."

On the whole, preferred the first season to this one
The show started out as a sitcom made by people well aware of hacky sitcom conventions, starring characters well aware of hacky sitcom conventions, and one of the fun things about Season One was watching the show find itself and test its limits. But then "Modern…

So basically Weiner wants David Chase money
to run a show that's on its best day a third as popular and profitable as The Sopranos.

Satriale's
Loved how the deli front the Irish Mob was working out of was a dead ringer for the Soprano's Satriales, and how they got another joke out of Archer's bandana being misconstrued as a tribute to Stevie Van Zandt.

Andy usually straddles the line between lovable goofball and functionally retarded, but his laughing at the stolen identity and frozen accounts was a bit much.

After last week's…
Anything was bound to feel like a downer. But I did like that 7 hours is twice as long as Leslie usually sleeps.

"He has a point there, too."
The problem is, if you talk enough, something you say is bound to make sense, whether you intend it to or not. He says people like him because he's 'honest' which is true only when you consider that he's been honest for about a week.

Come out and play-y-ayyyyyyyy